“Since IFFCO has a close relation to the soil of the country it is able to confer literary laurels like the Sri Lal Shukla Award; those connected to the soil can alone do creative works”, said Union HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar while speaking at the 6th literary award function held in the memory of legendry novelist Sri Lal Shukla at NCUI’s auditorium in Delhi on Tuesday.
The literary event was marked by the presence of notable litterateurs on the occasion. Union Minister Javadekar assisted by others did the honors of presenting the award to Kamala Kant Tripathy, an IRS officer whose writings in Hindi depict life of farmers in a poignant manner.
The Minister said there is need to launch a revolution for the revival of Indian languages and IFFCO can play a major role. Stressing on the need to form reading habits Javadekar said “A society which has inculcated reading habits among its members is sensitive to the poor”.
Javadekar narrated an experience from Maharashtra in which the govt took an appropriate decision on the displaced people after the members of a committee read a book on the miseries of displacement. .
Welcoming the guests IFFCO MD Dr U S Awasthi said it has been continuous efforts of IFFCO to connect to farmers not only through selling fertilizer but relating to them in a whole gamut of their life. He mentioned about his “connect farmers’ campaign” and said he is personally visiting 125 locations across the states to know them and tell them about the latest opportunities.
Awasthi also thanked Javadekar for finding time amidst Parliamentary session to come as the chief guest. “There was little time for preparations”, he added hinting at the grueling routine he is following these days.
Hero of the show Kamala Kant Tripathy thanked IFFCO and the Selection Panel headed by D P Tripathy to have
chosen him as the winner. “I was not sure if I deserved it”, he said while narrating his experiences as a writer.
Hailing Sri Lal Shukla as a great writer he said it has been his efforts to emulate the great author all his life.” The first letter of appreciation from any established author that I received after writing Pahi Ghar was from Shri Shukla; I still preserve that letter as a treasure”, Tripathy sounded nostalgic.
As D P Tripathy could not make it owing to his health problems, Naresh Saxena explained how the selection committee zeroed in on Kamala Kant Tripathy’s name. He also said IFFCO is perhaps the only business organization in the country that does not work only for the bottom-line. The fact that it views its clients’ life in a holistic manner is something unique.
On the occasion NSD famed Aasif Ali directed a show from Rag Darbari which captured the essence of Sri Lal Shukla’s writings. The audience was thrilled to see the characters such as Budhia, Chote, Rangnath, Principal Saheb and Vaidyaji coming alive on the stage.
